


Consequences

by charlotteicewolf77



Series: Stranded 'verse [9]
Category: Doctor Who (2005), Torchwood
Genre: Angst, Bath, Deathfic, Drama, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotions, Fever, Fights, Flirting, Freak, Hurt/Comfort, Ianto gets angry, Jack is looked after by Ianto, Letter, M/M, Medicine, Nightmare, Owen is a stupid insensitive git, Phone Calls, Pneumonia, Rape, Romance, Sickfic, Sleep, Tears, Wrong, argument, bed, cough, disappeared, friendships, gone, note, relationships, scared, texts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-12
Updated: 2013-02-12
Packaged: 2017-11-29 01:49:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/681337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/charlotteicewolf77/pseuds/charlotteicewolf77
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The team come into work one day and discover that Jack has left, with only a mysterious tear stained note left behind to explain why that gives them more questions than answers. Can they find out what happened or have they lost their captain forever? I suggest that if you like Owen you don't read this, but if you like Ianto punching people and looking after Jack you'll love it!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Consequences

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own Doctor Who or Torchwood etc etc

Gwen looked up as Ianto entered the hub and headed to make the coffee. A few minuites later he greeted her with a smile as he handed her a cup and started towards Jack's office.

"Ianto!" she called after him, he turned with a puzzled look on his face.

"Yes Gwen?"

"Jack isn't there. None of us have seen him since we left last night; we all thought he had gone home with you because you were late in." she explained to the Welshman.

"He wasn't at my place; I was late because my mum decided to call up because she wants me home next week end. He told me he was staying here tonight because he had paperwork to do. Unless there was a rift alert…?"

Gwen shook her head and felt slightly guilty at the worried expression on Ianto's face, "Tosh checked when she got here 20 minuites ago, and everything's been quiet all night." Now the young man looked so worried she decided to give him some hope. "Although I didn't check if Jack was in his room, just in case I got my eyes burnt out. I wouldn't be surprised if he's still asleep if he's been doing paperwork half the night."

"I'll go check. Is Owen here yet?"

"No, the silly sod's probably still asleep, lazy bugger. Don't worry; if he comes in I'll keep him distracted from coffee."

He smiled gratefully and hurried off to Jack's office, thoughts racing. He entered the open door and headed down the ladder to the bunk, only to find that the immortal man was nowhere to be found. The Welshman checked the wardrobe and discovered no clothes were missing; he pulled the covers back just in case his lover had somehow managed to curl up small enough to hide but to no luck. He even checked under the bed despite knowing how ridiculous the chances were that Jack would be there. Down heartened, Ianto went and climbed the ladder to the office and was about to leave when he spotted an envelope on the chair behind the desk with Jack's handwriting on the front. He picked it up and saw his name along with smudged blue fingerprints and tearstains and he hastily ripped it open and began to read, eyes becoming wider with each shaky line.

To Ianto,

If you're reading this then I've left torchwood and I don't think I'm ever going to come back. I'm leaving most of my stuff behind, I want a clean start. I'm sorry for not saying goodbye but I've never been very good at that sort of stuff and I probably wouldn't have had the heart to go through with it. I haven't taken any retcon, mostly because there isn't enough to erase just less than 150 years of memories and even if I took what there is you might need it. But also because I liked most of my time here, especially with you and I really wished I could have stayed and become your proper boyfriend and do couple stuff. I'll probably never see any of you again so don't try to look for me. It might take a while for you all to come to terms with this but eventually you'll realise that it's a good thing that I left. 

Good bye, Jack.

Ianto read the letter, then reread it, then again. Then he walked calmly down the stairs and over to Tosh's workstation and beckoned Gwen over before slapping the note down in front of them and watching for their reactions.

"Oh my God." Gwen said eventually.

"But, why?" Tosh asked, her emotions see sawing between upset and bewilderment. "He was perfectly fine yesterday when we went to the pub, what's changed between then and now to cause this?"

"What happened last night when you all left?" Ianto asked them, he had had the day off yesterday because he had to meet up with his sister and hadn't seen the immortal man since the day before.

"Well, all we had to do was paperwork so Jack let us go early and we told him we would see him in the pub. Owen said he was saying because had to finish up on some autopsy report thing." Gwen explained. "So we went down the pub, me and Tosh waited ages for Jack to turn up but he never did. We waited 'til half past 8 and just figured something had come up here."

"I could get the CCTV to see what went on." The quiet Japanese woman offered, fingers already tapping hurriedly over the keyboard.

"Thanks Tosh." Ianto muttered gratefully. He had no idea what was going on but he sure as heck wanted to find out.

The trio waited in silence for a few moments until the techie turned the screen for them to see the picture playing out before them.

They saw Owen come up and into Jack's office an hour after the girls had left. The 2 talked for a few minuites which ended in the medic leaving for home and the immortal carrying on with paperwork.

"That's all there is Ianto, the CCTV footage between 3 and 4 has been deleted, totally stripped from the records. There's no way I could recover it." Tosh told him gently, "And after Owen leave's Jack's just doing paper work until he goes down to his bunk around 12. There's no sign of him after that."

"So he must have left at probably half past three this morning and deleted an extra half hour either side to make sure we definitely couldn't see what happened." The Welshwoman figured.

"I'm going to see if I can find Martha's number." Ianto told his 2 colleagues. "Just in case she might've heard from Jack and if not she can call the Doctor and ask if he's with him."

"I'll ask Rhys and Owen and keep check on the Rift." Gwen offered.

"And I'll see if he's turned up on any other CCTV anywhere." The younger woman replied, turning back to her computer and tapping in codes and calling up settings the other 2 could only, fathom at.

Ianto gave them both a tight smile before heading back up to his lover's office.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The tea boy sifted through mound upon mound of paper and general clutter that had been gathering in Jack's drawers for the past few years, searching to see if the ex con man had left his mobile behind when he left or if it was one of the few things he had taken. He'd already checked the cramped underground suite and come up with nothing, though he hadn't particular wanted to wade through Jack's desk- whether he had left or not, it was still a very personal and invading thing for one to do Ianto thought- he did it anyway. And he was only halfway through the first drawer.

Hold on, back track, no, no, no, who the hell is Tish and Francine?, no, no, Martha! Yes!

Ianto hurriedly stuffed all the other things back into the drawer and pulled out his mobile; his fingers were fumbling so badly he had to retype the number three times before he got it right.

"Come on, pick up." He begged as the line beeped periodically. He was just about to give up when,

"Hello?"

"Martha? Is that you? It's Ianto."

"Ianto?" he could hear the UNIT doctor's surprise. "What's up?"

"It's nothing much, it's just… have you heard from Jack in the last couple of days?"

"Um, not apart from a text asking if we were all ok. Why?"

The Welshman let out a disappointed sigh and ran a hand through his hair. "He's disappeared. I came in this morning, there's a note on his chair saying that he's left Torchwood and left most of his stuff too. No explanation, just a sorry for not saying goodbye in person and something about never being good at goodbyes and that it's better this way for everyone. The CCTV has been deleted, nobody's seen him. I was wondering if you could ask the Doctor?"

Martha immediately knew what the distraught young man wasn't saying; he thought that Jack had run off with the time lord again without a word. "You and I both know Jack would never do that Ianto. Hold on I'll ask Mum."

The young doctor went off for a few moments and Ianto could hear her talking with somebody, catching the words "Jack" and "missing" before she appeared again.

"Ianto? My mum and dad haven't heard from him. I asked Tish and she said she had had a phone call from him yesterday afternoon asking if we were all ok, according to her he seemed all ok and normal, well normal for Jack and whatever but nothing about being upset and leaving."

"Ok, thanks for trying Martha." He said, disappointedly.

"No problem. I'll call the Doctor and ask him. And Ianto, don't worry, I'm sure Jack's fine. Everything will be back to normal tomorrow I'm sure of it."

"Yeah." Ianto said, a little more hopeful. "Bye Martha."

"Bye Ianto."

With that, she was gone.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tosh beckoned him over as soon as his foot left the staircase. "What have you found Tosh?" he asked her, scared she would say that Jack was lying dead in a ditch somewhere.

"In all honesty, not much." She confessed. "But I saw that Jack's coat wasn't there so I looked for that instead and it's on the roof. It might be a slim chance but maybe there's something there that'll tell us where he's gone. Gwen called Rhys and Owen; they haven't seen him, Owen's on his way in now."

"Thanks Tosh." Ianto told her quietly, before heading up to the roof top.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ianto spotted the folded up woollen coat and bent down to retrieve it. He shook the garment out and was not in the least bit surprised when nothing came of it, Jack could disappear better than anyone else on the planet and if they did happen to find out where he had gone it would either be by a miracle or he wanted them too. No other way.

He stood up there for a while, it was only when he started to shiver did he snap back into real time. God, it was freezing out here! Ianto had never seen Jack wear any other outer garment except for this coat and it was in serious doubt to whether he actually owned anything else. The young tea boy shook his head; Jack was definitely bats if he thought he could be outside in the bear minimum. Still, a good amount of those thoughts probably were rooted in ego so maybe the former time agent wasn't all that crazy.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ianto slid the key to his flat in to the lock and quickly hurried in side away from the biting winter weather. He toed off his shoes and was just about to head into the kitchen to make him some coffee when he spotted a pair of grubby trainers partially hidden in the shadow of the front door. His heart skipped a beat as he realised who they belonged to.

"Jack?" he called out, entering the living room and flicking on the light. No one was there so he carried on into the bedroom, scrambling around for the light switch and breathing a relieved sigh when he saw the immortal man sprawled across the bed. "Jack!" he cried out happily and shaking his lover into wakefulness.

"Ianto?" Jack blinked blearily up at him from his position on the bed. His voice sounded rough and scratchy and he had only just finished speaking when he started coughing.

The Welshman hurriedly pulled him upright and patted his back until he stopped. "You alright?" he asked worriedly. Not believing for a second that everything was fine as Jack nodded.

"Why did you decide to leave Jack?" Ianto asked him eventually. "We thought you had gone off with the Doctor again. Just one little note and that was it, why?!"

The elder man just shook his head and snuggled in closer. "I'm so tired Yan." He murmured sleepily.

Ianto frowned and pressed a hand to his forehead. It was far too warm. "Sshh cariad, sleep now. You'll feel better when you wake up." Jack smiled drowsily and was asleep within seconds, leaving a very worried tea boy behind.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ianto sipped at his mug of coffee as he watched Jack sleeping. He had been asleep for the whole night through which had surprised the welsh man greatly; the immortal never slept more than 3 hours a night let alone 12. The sound of the phone ringing broke through his thoughts and he quickly hurried to answer it, lest the blaring noise wake up his partner.

"Hello?" he said.

"Ianto?" Tosh seemed relieved to find him at home.

"Tosh?" he asked "What's happened? Has something come up at the hub?"

"What? Oh no, it's just that you're late in and me and Gwen wanted to know if everything was alright."

"I'm fine." Ianto confirmed, "I've found Jack."

"You what?!" she exclaimed excitedly, "where? Is he going to stay?!" question after question came from the Japanese woman.

"I don't know." He confessed. "I came home last night and he was asleep. I was just about to call you and say that we were taking a few days off."

"Is he alright?" Tosh asked worriedly.

"Honestly, I have no idea. He's been coughing all night and he's got a fever. I'll get Owen to come and check on him if he gets any worse."

"Jack'll be OK Ianto. I'm sure of it."

"Yeah," Ianto replied, not convinced. "We'll see you all in a few days."

"Ok, bye Ianto."

"Bye Tosh."

Ianto stared at the phone for a while until Jack started coughing again and he returned to the bedroom.

When he got there, however, Ianto realised that this particular coughing fit had succeeded in waking the immortal ex time agent where the numerous others had failed and he stroked Jack's hair as the coughing ended and his head fell tiredly into his lap.

"Feeling any better?" the tea boy asked, already knowing the answer that he would receive.

"Not particularly, no. Shouldn't you be at the hub by now?"

"I gave us both a couple of days off. And you still haven't told me why you decided to leave so suddenly. Or why you're here."

"Doesn't matter. I've left, it's a good thing that I did. I couldn't just leave you though, stupid, I knew you would try to change my mind."

"But why?"

No answer. Ianto sighed and carried on carding his fingers through Jack's silky brown hair. "Are you hungry? I could make you some breakfast."

Jack shook his head. "I'm not hungry."

"Well that's a first." Ianto said jokingly in an attempt to lighten the mood. "You still have to drink though, you want some coffee?"

The former time agent thought about it for a moment, "Yes please."

The younger climbed off the bed and headed towards the door. "And after you and I aregoing to have a talk." Jack moaned which turned into a cough, rough and dry; tearing at his throat like hundreds of tiny knives. His head pounded in time with his heartbeat while his chest ached and his stomach churned, suddenly coffee didn't seem like a very good idea. He was dizzy and panting, shivering even though he was sweating; his breath catching at his parched throat, making him cough harder. He felt like killing himself just for a few seconds reprieve. He was so tired; all he wanted to do was go to sleep for a million and one years. Ianto had been wrong, he didn't feel better, he felt much worse.

He didn't know he had even fallen asleep but suddenly Ianto was shaking him awake and placing a hot steaming mug in his hand before slipping in behind him and wrapping an arm around his waist. Jack looked down at the coffee he held, it did definitely not seem like a good idea, and just the smell was making him feel nauseous; but he didn't want to hurt Ianto's feelings so he raised the mug to his lips and took sip after sip until it was all gone, trying to suppress the sick feeling he felt as it hit his stomach. And now Ianto wanted to know about why he left, great. Could this day get any worse?

The immortal man placed his empty mug onto the bedside table and huddled closer against Ianto, trying to get warm, the burning feeling that he had felt earlier had now completely dissipated and he was freezing. Ianto sensed something was wrong and put his arms around Jack's shoulders.

"Why did you leave Jack? What happened?"

"I just, decided it was the right time to go."

"But why Jack? And if it was the right time then why were you crying when you wrote that letter? Nothing adds up." Ianto told him, part angry, part worried. He knew he probably should just let the elder man sleep but he needed to know.

"I…" Jack began before his stomach leapt into his throat and he had scrambled away from Ianto and into the bathroom before he threw up, partly on the floor, mostly on himself. The Welshman had appeared some where along the way and rubbed his back, offering what little comfort he could while his lover puked his guts up.

"It's alright cariad." He soothed gently, "We'll get you cleaned up and put you back to bed and then I'll call Owen and ask him to come and check up on you. Then he can give you something to help and yell at me for giving coffee to a sick person. Ok?"

"No." Jack moaned painfully. He didn't want to move, the fever was making him hot again and the cold tiles of Ianto's bathroom felt wonderfully cool.

"You can't stay on the floor Jack." Ianto chided him as he pulled off the soiled t shirt and jogging bottoms and fetching a pair of his own sleeping pants and a thick woollen sweater as a replacement. "Now come on, let's get you settled back in to bed and then while we're waiting for Owen to arrive I can clean this up. Come on, up you get."

"Not Owen, don't want Owen to come here. Not Owen."

"Why not cariad?" the tea boy asked, bewildered.

"Just no." came the reply from the floor.

Ianto knelt back down next to Jack again and wrapped his arms around him. "Jack, did some thing happen between you and Owen last night after Gwen and Tosh left?"

"No! Why would you think that?!" Jack asked the expression on his face some thing a kin to that of a rabbit caught in the head lamps of an on coming car.

"Because both Gwen and Toshsaid that when they left you seemed fine and the CCTV showed that you and Owen talked for a couple of minuites before he left and nothing else happened that night."

"Nothing happened." Jack repeated firmly, although it was clear that Ianto didn't believe a word of it.

"Ok, come on; back to bed with you now. The floor is no place to have a conversation like this. Let's get you back under the covers and then we can talk some more." He stood up and grabbed at the immortal's hands and pulled him to his feet, grabbing at his shoulders as he swayed unsteadily when the room began to spin. The younger helped him back to the bed room and gently tucked him in before carrying on stroking his hair.

"You're very hot cariad." He observed. "Are you sure you don't want me to call Owen?"

"I'm OK." Jack mumbled, "Just gotta sleep a bit and I'll be alright again. I just gotta sleep."

"Alright." Ianto conceded, "How about a compromise then? If you haven't improved by tonight then I'll call Owen and get him to come and check up on you. Deal?"

He nodded, trying not to wince as his brain sloshed around inside his head. "Tired. Head hurts."

Ianto gave him a quick peck. "I know cariad. Do you think you'll be OK if I went out for an hour or so? You need some pain killers and I need some thing to eat."

"I'll be alright." The elder confirmed. "I'll just be sleeping anyway. Come back soon, I don't want to be alone."

"Back in an hour maximum, I promise." Another kiss and he was all alone in the flat, soon sound asleep again.

*DREAM*

Jack looked up as Owen entered his office and was just about to say hello when the snarky medic casually back handed him across the face.

"You're a fucking slut Jack and I hope you know it."

"I'm not." He said, well used to this by now. If he didn't answer it would just end up in a worse situation.

"Oooh, so the whore can speak! I thought it was just too stupid to do anything except give somebody a shag! Going to give me a demonstration?"

"No! Why do you keep doing this? I haven't done anything to you! Why can't you just leave me alone?!"

"Because, you idiotic fucker, you deserve it. You enjoyed what the Master did, didn't you? That just proves what a cheap little whore you are. Just ask any of us, we'll all tell you."

"You're lying, I know you are! Ianto doesn't think that!"

Owen sneered "You really do believe that don't you, you fucking puff? Well why don't you ask him? He's right beside you."

Jack turned his head and saw Ianto standing there, the sneer on his face breaking no arguments to what he was about to say.

"You're a fucking whore Jack. After you killed Lisa I stayed with you only so I could get my revenge. You really are a stupid cunt if you thought I cared even the tiniest bit for you, I guess I owe Owen a tenner then, you really are that stupid."

"No, I didn't kill Lisa, she was already dead, and you know that Yan, you do, you said so."

"I lied Jack, just like we all did. Everyone lied to you, everyone is lying to you, and everyone will lie to you; don't you get that yet?"

An image of the Master appeared and Jack cried out in fear, his hands reached out to grab at his face and plant an angry kiss on his lips. He tried to pull away and shout for help but strong hands clamped down on his shoulders and forced him to stay put as the megalomaniac's hands roamed all over his body. He hit out with his hands as best as he could and struggled in the tight grip and screamed as he was pinned to the floor and screamed and screamed and screamed…

*END OF DREAM*

Ianto had only been gone from his flat for little more than half an hour when he received a text from his next door neighbour from a floor down.

THERES NOISES UP ABOVE, EVRY 1 ELS IS OUT

UR BOYFREND OK? 

Ianto inwardly swore and quickly texted back.

YEH, HE'S OK

HE HAS V. BAD NITEMARES SO HE DONT SLEEP BUT HE'S SICK SO THEYRE PROBLY WORSE NOW. I'LL B BAK SOON AS POSS.

The Welshman stuffed his phone back into his pocket and finished the rest of his errands as quickly as was humanly possible.

When he got to the door of his flat the noises had stopped so he quickly let him self in and dumped the shopping bags on the kitchen table before heading towards the bed room from which now nothing could be heard apart from an occasional sobbing sound.

"Jack?" he asked into the near darkness softly, a tiny sob. "Jack? Are you ok?" he asked as he flicked on the light. He blinked at the sudden brightness and waited for his eyes to adjust before looking around the immortal captain. "Jack?" Ianto asked as he searched for his boyfriend and found him wedged between the bed side table and the side of the wardrobe.

The former time agent looked up at him and, to Ianto's immense surprise, huddled against the wall as far as he could. "No." he moaned desperately, "You're lying, and I know you are."

"Jack?" the Welshman repeated as he approached, "What's the matter?"

He placed a hand gently on Jack's cheek and landed with a dull thud on his back side as the elder pulled away and started yelling to get off of him. "Jack! It's me, Ianto! Calm down!" the immortal shoved his head back to try and get away and only succeeded in cracking his head on the wall and making him slump limply against the closet. "Jack?" Ianto tried again, more cautiously this time. He raised his head slowly and painfully from where it rested against the wood before throwing up down his front, again.

"Yan?" he asked, shaky and uncertain.

"It's ok cariad, I'm here, it's ok, you're ok, I promise." He pulled him into a hug in spite of the vomit stained clothes and made soothing noises as he cried noisily.

"Sshh, come on, bathroom. Let's get you cleaned up, come on now. Up you get."

He gently pulled Jack up and took him into the bathroom before sitting him down on the edge of the bath tub and wetting a face cloth and sitting down next to his lover. "I'm sorry Yan." Jack whimpered softly as the tea boy wiped away the snot and vomit and tears.

"Sshh, you don't have any thing you need to be sorry for. Everyone gets sick sometimes, even you. Do you feel like you can have a bath? Or maybe a shower?"

"Too tired." Jack snuffled. "My head hurts."

"I know." Ianto soothed, "I got you some paracetamol so you'll feel a bit better soon. And I'm going to call Owen as soon as you're back in bed."

"No, please. Don't call Owen Yan, please."

"What happened between you and him cariad? And don't say nothing because I know that isn't true. So tell me."

Jack looked up and it tore Ianto's heart to see the fear in them.

"He hates me."

"No he doesn't, why would you think a thing like that?"

"He does, he told me so."

"When?!" Ianto demanded fiercely, his emotions changing to anger in a moment.

"Last night. He called me a whore when we were arguing."

"But I saw the CCTV footage; it was just the 2 of you talking!"

"I knew you would watch it when you found out that I had gone so I got some old footage and spliced it in so you wouldn't be angry at him because he was just saying what all the rest of you think."

"No we don't Jack, I swear it on whatever you want, we don't."

"Then why did he say that?"

"What did Owen say, exactly?"

"Well," Jack met Ianto's eyes with his equally blue ones, "It went like this…"

*FLASHBACK*

"You fucking prick Jack!" Owen shouted angrily.

"Why, what did I do now?" the immortal man asked him with a puzzled look on his face.

"You fucking moved all the stuff in my desk around!" the medic told him, fists clenched tightly at his die, not sure he wouldn't swing for his boss any time soon.

"No I didn't! I've been in here practically all day. Why would I do that any way?"

"How the hell am I meant to know what goes on in that bloody head of yours?! All I do know is that you moved my stuff around!"

"I didn't!" Jack said back, "I swear Owen I don't know who or what did that but it wasn't me!"

"Pull the other one Harkness!"

"I didn't do it!"

"You fucking inter galactic mother fucking whore Jack! I fucking hate you!"

"You can call me whatever you want, it still wasn't me."

"Yeah, sure. Why can't you just fucking leave with the Doctor again, it was much nicer without you around."

"I'm not going to argue with you Owen. Go home and calm down."

"Don't worry, I'm not coming back to this bloody place before tomorrow even if the world is effing ending."

The medic stormed away still fuming; he grabbed his jacket and never looked back.

Jack only vaguely registered the younger man leaving as he tried to blink back the tears long enough to make it down to his bunk and curl up under the covers.

The immortal cried for hours until he had no tears left. Did the others really wish that he had never come back from the TARDIS? Did they really feel that he was a whore? If they all thought that of him, why did they put up with him?

Suddenly, he knew what he had to do. He changed into a t shirt and joggers and a pair of grubby trainers that he had not even known that he had and re made his bed. He made his way up the ladder to his office and wrote a letter to Ianto and headed up to the roof to put his coat there and was just about to leave when he paused by the drawer of his desk in which he kept his special things secure and after a while of pondering opened it and removed the Advena Memoriausta before shutting the drawer and locking it tight. The Advena Memoriausta was a solid metal oval about 2 inches long with a series of buttons across one edge and had unlimited storage capacity- perfect for a man who would never die and was terrified of forgetting the people that he loved.

He carefully placed the alien device in his pocket and took one last look around the place which had been the only home that he had known in years.

Then he walked silently away.

*END OF FLASH BACK*

Ianto felt anger bubbling up in side of him as he listened as Jack almost talked himself to sleep in his arms yet the young welsh man calmed himself down and forced himself back into real time as the immortal brunette grew heavy in his hold.

"Cariad, stay awake." Ianto ordered his lover gently.

"Why?" Jack asked wearily.

"Because you need to stay awake so you can take some paracetamol. Stay here and I'll go get you some, ok?"

"Ok."

The Welshman carefully manoeuvredhimself off the bed and made his way into the kitchen to retrieve the bag he had left earlier. He emptied the contents onto the counter top and rummaged around until he found the pack of paracetamol and filled a mug with water before heading back through the flat to the bedroom.

"Here you go." He said as he sat back down next to the half asleep man on the bedand placed 2 pills into his hand and waiting until they were in his mouth before offering the mug and watching as he sipped and handed it back before falling into a deep slumber.

Then Ianto walked away and into the hall and picked up the phone.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Owen shoved his mobile into his back pocket and made his way towards his car. So much for his plans of going to the pub early then. Of course, he could just pretend his mobile had been on silent and he hadn't seen the text message from Ianto until after he had started on his first pint… but then there would be a lot of other questions such as why his phone had been on silent and stuff and he had a feeling that he would get caught out eventually, and he really didn't want to get on the wrong side of tea boy if he was in a mood, which his text suggested.

GET TO MY PLACE

NOW

JACK IS SICK

IANTO

Owen shivered at even the thought of decaf coffee for however long Ianto saw fit as punishment as he unlocked the door to his car and tossed his medical bag carelessly down onto the passenger seat before pulling his seatbelt on and starting the car.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jack sleepily blinked his eyes open and looked towards the door of Ianto's bedroom which, unusually, was shut firmly closed; most probably in an attempt to stop him from hearing the raised voices beyond. He immediately recognised one of the pair as belonging to none other than Ianto. It took him a few more moments to distinguish who the other voice belonged to and when he did his blood ran icy cold through his veins. Owen.

At that moment he wanted nothing more to curl up in a ball and die permanently.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ianto had made sure that the door to the bedroom was firmly closed before Owen had arrived so as not to wake up Jack and prepared himself for the shouting match that was inevitably looming on the horizon.

The medic announced his presence with the doorbell no more than 5 minuites later and the Welshman steeled himself before opening the door and showing the elder inside before shutting the door again and nodding towards the living room, indicating for him to lead on.

"What's the matter tea boy?" Owen asked, as snarky as ever, "Are you in a mood because Jack's sick and you aren't getting any?" he expected an equally snarky comment in reply, what he did not expect, however, was the punch in the face that sent him reeling.

"What the fuck tea boy?!" he yelled, half angry, half shocked.

"I'll tell you what the fuck Owen." Ianto snarled angry beyond belief, "You telling Jack that he was a whore and that we were all better off without him. Would you care to explain?"

Owen visibly paled, "So you know about that then?"

"Yeah, I do. And do you know what really pisses me off about all of this?" Ianto waited, giving Owen a chance to answer his question. When none came, he ploughed forward. "What pisses me off is the fact that Jack tampered with the CCTV footage so that all it looked like was you and him talking because for some unknown reason he didn't want you to be shunned by the rest of us for driving him away because he believed all of what you said to him! He has been literally begging me not to call you to check up on him and he only told me why half an hour ago. Do you have any idea how helpless that makes you feel, watching your boyfriend lying there, not even able to stand up by himself? Seeing him throw up all over himself and you can only sit there and do nothing except for rub his back and hug him and tell him that everything would be ok? Do you have any idea how it makes you feel to watch your lover curled up on the floor, trying to hide from you because he thinks something bad is going to happen because he's awake but trapped in a nightmare?" Ianto let out a breath that he didn't realise he had been holding, his rage dampened but not spent as he death glared his colleague.

Owen faltered for a few moments, having absolutely no idea what to say to the irate Welshman standing in front of him, so he decided to do what he always did in situations like this, blame it on anyone but himself. "Well I wouldn't have said anything to the stupid prick if he hadn't moved about all the stuff in my desk! He brought all of this on himself Ianto!"

The younger was tempted to punch Owen again and caught himself just in time. "Owen either you go and look after my boyfriend and your boss, or I just might punch you again. Understand?" the snarky and often arrogant doctor nodded mutely and hurried away.

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Jack heard footsteps approaching the bedroom and identified them as Owen's and was about to close his eyes and make out that he was asleep when a colossal pain seared an angry path through his head and he cried out loudly, writhing around on the bed as his head exploded in agony.

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Ianto heard Jack shouting in pain and immediately shoved past Owen and into the bedroom before pulling the former time agent into his arms and held him tightly until he had calmed down.

"What's wrong cariad?" he asked frantically.

Jack moaned and put his hands over his ears, "Too loud." He croaked before falling into a coughing fit that just made his head hurt more. Ianto pulled him upright and soothed him gently until the fit ended and he lolled exhaustedly against the tea boy's shoulder with a sigh. "Too loud." He repeated weakly, "It hurts. Make it stop Yan, please, make it stop."

"I'm sorry cariad, I know it hurts." Ianto whispered, "I can't make you better Jack, but Owen can. I know he's been a bastard cariad but please let him look at you, for me?"

"No, he made me sick." The immortal mumbled.

"How did he make you sick Jack?" the tea boy asked, bewildered.

"Gave me the pneumonia vaccine. Told him not to but he just thought I was being a baby for being scared of needles and didn't listen. And because I'm from the 51st century my immune system reacts differently" The ex con man explained, his voice slightly slurred as he tried to keep his eyes open.

"Oh he did, did he?" Ianto shot the Londoner a glare who in return looked ashamedly at the floor.

"I didn't do it Yan, I swear I never went near his desk, honest Yan I didn't do it."

"I know you didn't cariad. It's alright, Sshh now, it's all ok now."

"Mmmm, so tired…" Ianto shifted him gently back onto the bed and stroked his hair until he fell totally asleep.

Slowly, he turned back to Owen. "And you never thought that there could be a reason as to why he tried to object to having you give him that vaccine? Or that there could be a reason why he hates needled so much? Or why he has just begged me to believe that he didn't touch anything on your desk? You never thought did you? You just found it funny that a grown man who has lived over 150 years was still as terrified of needles as he was as a child and that ever since he came back he was startled by loud noises and clung to the people that he considered his family like they were going to just be suddenly ripped away from him." Ianto's voice was cold with the anger that he felt towards the Londoner and he clenched his fist as he tried to calm himself down enough so he didn't hit out.

"Well if the stupid prick didn't mess about with my desk then who did?!" Owen demanded angrily.

"And it just slipped your mind that you had 2 other work colleagues that might of done it?"

"I asked Gwen and Tosh, they both denied it."

"What and you just decided to believe them over Jack? Of course they denied it Owen; they were the ones who did it! Tosh told me about it yesterday and said you didn't expect a thing. You really are a stupid prick aren't you?! If you had just kept your anger in check and taken the whole incident as what it was: a practical joke, then none of this would have happened! Jack would never have tried to run away wearing barely anything and he would have stayed in the hub and then he would have told me that he was sick or I would have noticed and then you could have looked after him and he wouldn't have stayed in bed for a day and a half getting worse and worse!"

"Look, maybe I over reacted yeah, but how was I supposed to know he'd go off on one? I don't have fucking access to his inner mind like you do because you're his shag buddy do I? Why's he so touchy about being called a whore and having a needle stuck in his vein anyhow?!"

"Because Jack was raped!" Ianto yelled, anger getting the better of him and blurting out the reason.

A shocked silence followed in which all that could be heard were the rapid, angry breaths of the Welshman, the attempts of Owen to digest the news he had just received and the laboured gasps of the sleeping immortal.

"W...what?! W...When?! And….how?!" came the stuttered reply of the overwhelmed Owen.

"When he went away." Ianto sat down and looked at his boyfriend, the love he felt for him clear to see in his eyes. "He was away for a year, although for us it was only 3 months. He went after the Doctor to find answers as to why he is what he is, and that bastard called him wrong and said that he shouldn't exist." The scowl on the young man's face showed exactly what he thought of the converse wearing time lord. "Then the prime minister Harold Saxon turned out to be another time lord called the Master and he had these creatures called the toclafane which were humans from trillions of years in the future and they came and killed 10% of the world's population and forced the rest into labour camps to make space shuttles so that Earth could become an empire with control over the whole universe. The Doctor, Jack and Martha's family were kept on the valiant. The Doctor was aged so that he looked like his 900 years, Martha's family were servants and Jack… Jack was chained up in the boiler room for a whole year by his wrists and not let down once. The Master knew he couldn't die and you can imagine what he did to Jack then. After a year Martha defeated the Master and time reset so the year never existed and Jack came home."

"Jesus Christ." Owen said eventually, painfully aware thatthose words weren't even close to describing the enormity of the situation.

Ianto let loose a humourless snort of laughter and walked calmly towards the door, "Just do what you need to do and then leave." He said to Owen as he walked passed him, shutting the door as he left the 2 men alone together.

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Ianto watched Jack as he slept, smiling at how cute his lover looked when lost in his dreams and it pained him when he shook the immortal's shoulder to wake him up.

A sound which could only be described as a whiny groan escaped the captain's lips as he twisted and turned.

"Jack, come on cariad, it's time for you to wake up now."

"Do I have to Yan?"

"I know you're tired but you have to take some medicine now. Come on, wake up."

"I'm awake I'm awake." Jack mumbled sluggishly.

"Good, it would help if you opened your eyes though. You have to take some medicine and then you need to have a bath and then you can go back to sleep again. I promise."

"Mmmm, ok. Is Owen gone now?"

"Yeah, he left about an hour ago, suitably humbled I might add. He would have apologised to you to your face but I warned him not to wake you up or I would punch him again."

"You punched Owen?" the ex con man asked, eyes now fully open in surprise. "Why?"

"He called you a whore and got you sick." Ianto shrugged, "One punch wasn't nearly enough for him."

"Thank you." The elder murmured, his head sinking back into the pillow.

"Hey, don't do that." The young welsh man chided him and poked his cheek tenderly. "Didn't you hear what I just told you? No going to sleep. You need medicine and a bath first."

"I know, but I'm so tired Yan. My head hurts and it's so cold."

"It isn't cold you're just feverish." Ianto explained as he hoisted his boyfriend upright.

"Oh." Came the simple and weak sounding answer.

"Come on then here's your medicine. You're meant to take them with food but Owen said you should start taking them as soon as possible and that you probably shouldn't be eating anything for a while because it would most likely make you throw up again."

The Welshman watched as his lover downed the pills dry and rubbed his shoulder soothingly before pulling him up and leading him to the adjacent bathroom and giving Jack a concerned look as he slid down the side of the bath onto the cold bathroom tiles as he put the plug into the plughole and turning on the taps to fill up the bath with water.

"Come on then." Ianto told the immortal brunette, "Get those clothes off. I've never known you to hesitate stripping down before."

His sarcastic comment earned him a weak looking grin and Jack began to slowly remove his clothes as the younger did the same.

They waited 5 minuites until the bath was full of water and the tea boy helped his captain into the bath and slipped in behind him.

"Ianto?"

"Yes Jack?"

"Thank you."

"You're welcome cariad."

A moment of silence before,

"I shouldn't leave torchwood should I?"

Ianto leaned forward and Jack craned his neck around to see him. The Welshman placed a gentle kiss on his lips before saying.

"No, you shouldn't. It's your home."

"Home." Jack repeated uncertainly then grinned, "I like the sound of that."


End file.
